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Surname Saturday – Tattersall

I have only one Tattersall in my family tree – that is my 2x great grandmother Sarah. I haven’t so far been able to find any concrete proof of her parents.

From the information in the census returns I think she was born about 1836, possibly in Keighley, West Yorkshire. When Sarah married James Buckley in 1857 her father’s name was omitted from the marriage certificate. This suggests to me that she may not have known who her father was. That is my brick wall as far as Sarah is concerned.

So, what about the surname itself. Well, according to surnamedb Tattersall is said to be an ancient English name of great complexity. There are a huge number of spellings including – Tattersall, Tattershall, Tattershaw, Tattersill, Tattersdill, Tettersell, Tetsall, Tittersell, Totterell and Tatarsahll.

The name is believed to originate from a place in Lincolnshire called Tattershall. This village is recorded as Tateshale in the Domesday Book of 1086 and as Tatesala in a survey of Lincolnshire in 1115.

The surname is also concentrated in Lancashire around the towns of Bury, Bolton and Burnley.

According to the British Surnames website in the 1881 census there were 3174 people with the surname Tattersall in Lancashire and 644 in Yorkshire. There are no significant numbers in any other county and Lincolnshire doesn’t feature in the top ten.